A Digital Opportunity Trust:

Because the airwaves are owned equally by all Americans, revenue from spectrum auctions and fees could be earmarked for reinvestment in new public assets for the digital era-including quality children's programming, educational innovation, digitizing our cultural inheritance, and expanded civic discourse. A spectrum trust could help to fulfill the public interest obligations of broadcasters and other commercial spectrum users. One such proposal, the Digital Opportunity Investment Trust (DOIT), follows in the footsteps of such historic reinvestments as the Morrill Act, which established land-grant colleges (including many of today's leading universities), and the G.I. Bill, both of which benefited all Americans by expanding access to higher education. This event will also explore the potential of digital technologies to transform education and life-long learning. In a world where capital and technology are increasingly mobile, reinvesting public assets to upgrade the skills of our workforce is crucial to increasing America's standard of living and maintaining a strong and vibrant democracy.

Participants

• Michael Calabrese
  Vice President and Co-Director, Retirement Security Program, New America Foundation


• Thomas Kalil
  Assistant to the Chancellor for Science and Technology, UC Berkeley


• James Billington
  Librarian of Congress


• Lawrence K. Grossman
  Co-Chair, Digital Promise and Former President, NBC News and Public Broadcasting Service


• Wade Henderson
  Executive Director, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights


• John Lawson
  President and CEO, Association of Public Television Stations


• William Wulf
  President, National Academy of Engineering (invited)


• C. Peter Magrath
  President, National Association of Land Grant and State Universities